Good Morning: the culture of writing books
ARTICLE (November 07 2007): On Monday evening, 29th of October 2007, was launched in Karachi, an exceptionally important book titled “The Day the Mountains Moved” which has international perspective in handling psycho trauma as its principal concern. I would like to focus on this 280-page hardbound book today.
But one also needs to keep in mind that in the same week, on Saturday evening, 3rd November 2007, came the announcement that “the Chief of Army staff General Pervez Musharraf had imposed a state of emergency throughout Pakistan and promulgated a Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) by holding the 1973 Constitution in abeyance” (reported The News).
The book which is a collection of well researched and authentic contributions from about 30 professionals (disaster and trauma experts all) has been edited by Dr Unaiza Niaz Anwar. She is a consultant psychiatrist and psychotherapist, Director, Institute of Psycho Trauma Pakistan (IPTP), Member, WPA, Task Force on Earthquake, and much more.
In the beginning of the publication is a quote from the English poet William Wordsworth from his ode: “Intimations of Immortality”. The quote is as follows:
“Another race hath been, and other palms are won,
“Thanks to the human heart by which we live,
“Thanks to its tenderness, its joys and fears,
“To me the meanest flower that blows can give
“Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears”
The book’s theme focuses on the earthquake that struck Pakistan on the morning of 8th October 2005. In the introduction and overview, Unaiza Niaz says that “the earthquake that struck Pakistan on the morning of 8 October 2005 at 8.50 Pakistan Standard Time caused widespread destruction killing at least 80,000 people, more than half of them women and children, severely injuring another 70,000, and leaving 3.5 million people without shelter. Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) and the eastern end of the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan (NWFP) bore the brunt of the impact, causing extensive damage to economic assets and infrastructure, with social service delivery, trade and communications either debilitated or destroyed altogether. Vulnerable groups, mainly women and children, living in inaccessible mountainous areas with low levels of income and service provision were the worst affected.”
There are two perspectives that the book has been divided into – the perspective from Pakistan, and the international perspective with regard to handling such disasters when they strike, and the aftermath. But there are scientific facts about earthquakes that are also kept in mind, which centre around such essential points that remind and reiterate that”, many simple questions about earthquakes are still not answered. For instance: Why do earthquakes occur? What determines the intensity of these earthquakes? Why are some earthquakes large and others small? What stops them? Are there any clear rules, patterns and regularities in earthquakes or are they inherently chaotic and random in nature”.
It has been observed at in the book that disasters open a window into the inner working of a society, With reference to the October 2005 earthquake what the initial reports of the psychiatrists said was very vital. It was realised that the individuals affected required support in three main areas. It was obvious that
1. Almost everybody was in need of psychosocial support and interventions,
2. A large majority of people were showing signs of psychological distress,
3. There were people suffering from severe mental disorders that tend to disable daily functioning (psychosis, severe depression, severely disabling anxiety, severe substance abuse, etc).
It is obvious that it is impossible to go into all the precious detail that this book has. A chapter by Unaiza Niaz on media as a tool for therapeutic interventions in disaster management is one that I would like to highlight here. In our present state of affairs it may have some particular and special significance.
She observes that “mass media has proved itself to be the most important and effective channel for communication when disasters occur.” And then while emphasising the importance of media in disasters, she observes that clinical psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers working with the survivors of trauma, recognise the negative role of media coverage of disasters. She further contends that such images arouse emotions and sensitise audiences in ways which can be seriously detrimental to their mental health. The book also details the difficulties in dealing with the media, the source of problems with the media, the role of media at different stages of the disaster and so on.
Apart from the academic aspect to such issues, the writer has said that in the October 2005 earthquake the local cable TV immediately publicised the details of the signs and symptoms of traumatic stress and the available utility of support services within the community for those affected – and that the showing of these positive images undoubtedly influenced the way in which the public was informed “positively”. Further more, it has been contended that the Pakistani media played a pivotal role in reassuring the public that the earthquake was not a “wrath of God” and that it was a natural calamity that occurs the world over.
The book’s epilogue observes that quite often the news media missed out on the success stories and focused mainly on the shortcomings and the weaknesses and that the absence of a professionally co-ordinated communications network exacerbated this tendency.
One need not and cannot agree with all that the book says, but the fact that such a grim, tragic and traumatic theme like the October 2005 earthquake has been examined is welcome. Same books, the publishers, need to be complimented.
At the book launching ceremony, the speakers were Dr Haroon Ahmed, Brigadier Mowadat Rana, and Unaiza Niaz, Dr Pirzada Qasim Siddiqui Vice Chancellor of the University of Karachi, was the chief guest.
In his speech he lamented that the culture of writing books was missing in Pakistani society, and therefore such an effort was very welcome. Just a thought as I sign off – that our psychiatrists will also come up with researched books on the psychological experience that lies behind the political trauma that people go through.
Source: Business Recorder
Date:11/7/2007
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